Ex-U.S. House speaker charged in relation to payments of hush money

CHICAGO -- Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert agreed to pay $3.5 million in hush money to keep an unidentified person silent about "prior misconduct" by the Illinois Republican who was once third in line to the U.S. presidency, according to a federal grand jury indictment handed down on Thursday in Chicago.

The indictment, which does not describe the misconduct Hastert allegedly was trying to conceal, charges the 73-year-old with one count of evading bank regulations as he withdrew tens of thousands of dollars at a time to make the payments. He also is charged with one count of lying to the FBI about the reason for the unusual bank withdrawals.

Each count of the indictment carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The Associated Press left a phone message seeking comment with a person at Hastert's Washington, D.C., office. It was not immediately returned. Hastert did not immediately return a message left on his cellphone seeking comment or respond to an email.

Hastert withdrew about $1.7 million in cash from various bank accounts from 2010 to 2014, then provided it to the person identified in the indictment only as Individual A. Hastert allegedly agreed to pay the person $3.5 million, but apparently never paid the full amount.

The indictment notes Hastert was a high-school teacher and coach from 1965 to 1981 in suburban Yorkville, Illinois. While the indictment says Individual A has been a resident of Yorkville and has known Hastert most of his life, it doesn't describe their relationship.

The indictment says Hastert agreed to the payments after multiple meetings in 2010. It says "during at least one of the meetings, Individual A and defendant discussed past misconduct by defendant against Individual A that had occurred years earlier," and Hastert agreed to pay Individual A $3.5 million "in order to compensate for and conceal his prior misconduct against Individual A," the indictment states.

Investigators questioned Hastert on Dec. 8, and he lied about why he had been withdrawing so much money, telling investigators he did it because he didn't trust the banking system, the indictment alleges.